You Like to Dance Around Me
by BeautifulInversion
Summary: This is a Sonny/Alexis story set during the sweeps when everyone was in the hospital sick with a plague like disease I know like that's never happened before, ha ha . They share a dance and some secrets.


Jason felt relief wash over him as he lay a gentle hand on Carly's forehead and found that her fever was going down. He replaced the warmth of his hand with a cool washcloth and looked back down at his friend whose eyes were following his every move. He had just finished recounting the details of her latest fever-induced hallucination and she seemed less surprised than he had been, watching the scene unfold hours earlier. She'd been pulled back to the day she and Sonny had been married-the first time. The wedding day that had more to do with saving Sonny than being the love of his life…it seemed Carly wasn't quite positive she was the love of Sonny's life, at least in her "dream." She was confused and in her mind she'd seen Jason as the only other witness to the late-night nuptials. Corinthos lawyer…the one he'd fought to have on retainer, the one he had paid dearly to keep-not just with money. He hadn't been present during the actual conversation Carly had been remembering, but he was pretty sure when it had taken place. And there were only two people who knew the actual words that had been spoken, two people in that room upstairs in Penthouse 4. The woman in his care and the one whose shoes she had sought to fill from day one and failed to reach that pedestal in her husbands life. She had been berating him as the woman she could never be. "He only married me because of you. He respects you, he trusts you, he values your opinion…how does that feel? Don't you realize that I'll never be that. I may be his wife, but you're the woman who he leans on. He chose you…"

"You okay," Jason asked, "Your fever seems to be going down." She seemed to be lost in thought.

"He always chose her, Jase. He had to marry me and then he, he just got used to me. I was familiar. He chose her in the beginning. Carly, go upstairs, Alexis wants privacy. Carly, I'm protecting Alexis. Carly, it's none of your business. I had the ring Jason but it was always her…it was-"

"Carly, you know that's not true…" He began but there wasn't enough fight to be fought there. Was she right? Alexis was Sonny's best friend, he was her confidante, she was his savior. Alexis made Sonny want to be a better man. She was the only person who'd really ever made him…

"He's different since she left Jason. The light turned off in him when she cut him out of her life. It's been years since I've seen him…"

Laugh. Jason thought to himself as Carly drifted off to sleep, leaving the sentence unfinished. Sonny was like a brother to him, but he had just been going through the motions of life since his gifted attorney walked away. He seemed almost numb and ironically it was because he had returned to Carly. The woman he was sure Alexis would say was the one Sonny always chose over her.

* * * * *

He heard it. He would have recognized that sound and the person who owned it anywhere. Alexis was sobbing, crying painful tears, sounds that could still pierce his heart. He had just lost his sister and God help him, he wouldn't lose her too. Sonny ran toward the open doorway and saw Jason ushering Sam out of the hospital room.

Jason looked at his friend and for a moment Sonny saw the twinkling of a time long past. When the two of them had convinced a stubborn, controlling, neurotic, fiery attorney to represent them, a time when they used to tease her among other things for her role as pin-up for her aging rocker fiance.

For this moment, for this crisis who they had been was enough for Jason to override how things had eventually played out.

"Go to her. She needs you. Her body…it can't take it. Ric doesn't know her like you do."

"Like I did." Sonny's guilt was not something Jason Morgan planned on feeding.

"She needs you," he repeated, "Go." And then he and Jason were out of view.

Sonny pushed the door open further, stepping inside. He was greeted by the screaming intensity of her pain.

"What happened?" He asked softly, eyes on her and her alone.

"Sam was upset," Ric told him, "She was yelling at Alexis, blaming her for her baby's death, among other things. It isn't true. Sam was just afraid for her brother's life…why is Alexis so upset?"

The baby, Sonny thought.

"Shh…Alexis, it's okay." Ric attempted to pull her to him, to console her, but she fought him, pulling the blanket she was holding closer around her and doubling over, wailing into her fist.

He couldn't bear it anymore. As gently as he could Sonny pushed his brother aside. He expected protest but it didn't come. He assumed Ric was hoping for anything that might stop Alexis from diminishing what physical strength she had left. He gave them room, easing onto the bed Sam had occupied earlier. And he watched…

Sonny grabbed Alexis wrists to get her attention, leaning over and whispering to her, a whisper knew she would hear, despite the volume of her anguish.

"Baby, shhhh…I'm here now. You can breathe. C'mon Lex, take a deep breath. It's me, it's Sonny--I'm here." Alexis opened her eyes and saw him. She relaxed somewhat, the sobs quieting into small intermittent hiccups, but the tears still trailed down her face.

"You're real this time," she said. When Sam had come to his room earlier she had mentioned Alexis' "dream." He nodded.

"Yes, baby. I'm real." With as much energy as she could muster, Alexis threw her arms around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Sonny was barely aware of the words his brother spoke or even him backing out of the doorway and shutting the door behind him. He continued to stroke her back comfortingly, kissing the top of her head. Her body felt too warm against him.

"I needed you and you were here," she said, her eyelashes tickling his cheek…butterfly kisses. Sonny wasn't sure whether she was referring to her delusion or the moment they were in now, either way the statement had proven true. "Sonny, Sam…" She began to tear up again and he spoke into her hair.

"Alexis, you know that I don't blame you for the baby's death right? Haven't I told you…"

"Yyes…" she sniffled. "But Sam was so angry, she's right. Sonny--she is."

"No," He said firmly, pulling her upward to meet his eyes. "She's hurting. She's afraid, but she's wrong. You had no control over any of it." She seemed to be weighting it in her mind, wanting it to be okay to believe the truth. "Lex, lye back, let me get you some water." She started to lean back until he moved from the bed, "Please, don't go." She said in a fearful voice, because she never got much of him.

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere," he told her, clasping on to her free hand as she took a sip of the cool water.

"Sonny, I had a, a…God a dream, a hallucination…I thought Ric, I thought he was you." She confessed.

"I know baby. I've, I've missed so much." He leaned over and left a long, sweet kiss on her flushed cheek.

"What if I would have told him?"

"You, you didn't Lex. You didn't." He said knowing without a doubt what she referring to, ALL of it.

"I want to see our girls," she told him, pleading with her dark brown eyes.

"The girls are at my house with Johnny. They're fine. Bobbi took Michael and Morgan to the brownstone." He straightened the blankets around her and pulled over her. "You rest. There are a lot of people that need you well." She closed her eyes, looking extremely weak. She was shivering.

"Sonny if I, if I--I want you to tell them every day how much I loved them. Tell them I fought for them. Tell them I loved their Fath-…"

"Alexis, you've cheated death too many times to give up now." he said kissing the hand that was holding his.

"Look who's talking…" she mumbled.

"No more violence, Lex, no more. That life is over. I've lost too much. Come on, I will not lose you."

"I chose you." She told him, giving in to the fever. He bowed his head shamefully…And I let you push me away, he thought.

"I'm choosing you now Alexis. Don't let it be too late." he knew she had heard him, but the fever ha pulled her into a dream. Dreams--hallucinations, a battle. His dream when he was fighting this barbaric disease had been one of comfort, however misguided.

* * * * *

They had made choices and vows, the trio of secrecy. Sonny had wanted a relationship with his beautifully gifted, long-legged attorney. The choices of an ex-love had ruined that. His belief that he didn't deserve Alexis' love propelled her away, pushing him back to his ex-wife. Carly had been ruthless to Alexis and when Alexis found out that she was carrying his child they had concocted a plan to keep their daughter safe--safe from evil stepmothers, safe from his life. In the gatehouse of the Quartermaine mansion Sonny and Alexis continued to whittle away what they were to each other and who they were themselves. They would sacrifice their love for one another, their own happiness was not important.

"Why don't you just give the baby up for adoption Alexis? Why punish a child by giving it a mob boss for a father and a self-destructive, poor decision making mother? Ned snarled resentfully.

"Ned if you ever talk to her like that…" He topped, hearing it. The fight to draw in air, the short-hiccupping breaths. It had been a long time since she'd panicked like that but he hadn't forgotten the attacks he'd witnessed in the past. He needed to know why this was happening now. She had stood up to Ned for too long for him to have caused this.

"Inhale, Lex. Good girl. Just breathe." Slowly her chest rose and fell normally.

"Ned, can I have a minute alone with Sonny?" Her ex-fiance left them in the living room, muttering under her breath. She sat on the couch with her face buried in her hands. "He's just upset that his participation will complicate things with your sister, but he'll help us . There's still part of him that misses, ya' know, Eddie's angel."

"It's not him." And then catching his comment, she glared in his direction. "Not the time, Sonny."

"Then tell me why you stopped breathing."

"Sonny, I stopped breathing when you left me to go back to your EX-wife." They sat there for a couple hours before she had finally fought through the tears and guilt, telling him her secret along with the reason why the word adoption shook her whole being. "I was 16 Sonny. I had no choice, they just, they took her. She was gone. I returned to school in New Hampshire in the Fall. And didn't look back. I couldn't I would have crumbled."

They had found themselves in snapshots of comfort and the friendship they once knew while those around them believed the lie, the hatred the two portrayed--only to protect Kristina.

The kidnapping--it's where Corinthos found himself during the hallucination his fever had produced. Sonny had needed her, he needed to apologize, beg her forgiveness. All the things they'd denied themselves and their little girl was still unprotected. They had followed the plan, went to extremes to make everyone believe they couldn't stand each other, hurtful words…"one-night stand" mentioned to many times to count. He knew that Ric wouldn't be there. They were on the "outs" again, attempting to hold it together for the search. He was living in a hotel.

Sonny never knew if Carly and Ric were aware of these times they allowed themselves, but he could care less. She was the love of his life and there was one reason and one alone that he wasn't with her, to keep their daughter safe. She'd been curled up, leaning against the desk by the door, he heard her speak before finding her in the darkness.

"Faith is going to kill my baby." He bent down next to her. "She's screaming for me and I can't get to her. She'll die. After all we've done…" Her anger was masking one thing and Sonny knew it. He wrapped his arms around her stiff, defensive body and said forcefully,

"Cry." He held her then as she cried for Kristina. It was well past midnight when she'd finished letting out the emotions she'd hid to be strong. They both glanced toward the door. "Lex, don't ask me to leave. I need to be with my daughter's mother. I…"

She placed a silencing finger over his lips and took his hand, leading him to the guest bedroom. She slipped out of the jeans she'd been wearing and stood there, her long legs sticking out of that green hooded sweatshirt. Sonny stripped down to his boxers and climbed into the bed after her. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed the top of her head, her hands running lovingly up and down his bare chest, sliding a leg in between his and he found comfort in the softness of her lips. They consoled each other that night as no one else could have done.

He shook his head, clearing it of that memory of the past…the night that had mirrored the one they spent during their daughter's illness. "Alexis," Sonny said trying to rouse her from the fever-induced sleep.

"Sonny, I wish…"

"Hey, no apologies, no regrets, no goodbyes…they'll have a dose of the antidote for you soon, sweetheart. If I have to move Heaven and earth."

"No more violence." She mocked him.

"After your well," he said on a laugh.

"S..sonny. I want to dance with you. I want to dance with you in Puerto Rico." She said pulling the breathing tube from her nose and sitting up.

"Baby, you're too sic--"

But she had that firey, "I'm not taking no for an answer," look in her big eyes. He helped ease her off the bed, an arm around her waist to steady her. Sonny brushed his lips against hers and relished in the feel of her as she dropped her head to his shoulder. And they began to dance.

"Not exactly formal wear." She commented glancing down at the hospital gown she had on.

"There's something to be said for navy blue…is it paper? You're gorgeous, no matter what you're wearing." He kissed her neck and turned with her, dancing in the small space between the hospital beds.

"Sonny, Ric wanted to know…when I was 16...I couldn't tell him--"

He squeezed her tighter, leaning in to kiss the words away. "It's alright. You loved your daughter, Alexis. They stole her from you, took her away. You had no choice. If you choose to keep what you have left to yourself…You'll tell him, if you want him to know."

She grinned slightly and whispered against his chest, "That only applies to you."

"And when you're ready to find her. We will find her, Lex. I won't rest until you hold your daughter in your arms, the daughter Helena took from you. She gave her away."

He heard her sniffle and new she was crying, hopeful tears.

"Thank you." Patrick entered the room and Corinthos nodded to him over Alexis' head and Drake released the antidote into her IV. It went unnoticed by the woman in his arms.

Ric watched his wife dance with his brother, moving aside as Dr. Drake exited the room. Alexis had needed Sonny and he would no longer be the bondage keeping her trapped. Ric understood their secret. He would choose to follow their lead, at least he would always have a part of her in his daughter Ric thought as he walked away.

"Molly," Alexis whispered into Sonny's ear. He strength was beginning to return as he led her in the dance, yet her voice was heavy with sleep. He met her eyes before her head fell back to his shoulder for rest.

"The unsinkable…Perfect choice, you did so good."

"She'll be a fighter like you." She told the man cradling her in his arms. He shook his head.

"She'll be brave like her momma." Sonny insisted.

"I want to see our girls," she tried once again and he smiled at her stubborness.

"Soon." He told her, kissing her forehead. Her fever was dropping. "We'll see them soon, together."

And they would dance together forever.


End file.
